My Post-Postmodern Objective Account of Theory and Moral Analysis

AUTHOR(S)

Kaplan, Morton A.

PUB. DATE

September 2000

SOURCE

Review of Politics;Fall2000, Vol. 62 Issue 4, p675

SOURCE TYPE

Academic Journal

DOC. TYPE

Article

ABSTRACT

I outline from a non-foundational standpoint why knowledge does not rest on a circular argument and why the nonunivocality of language is compatible with scientific truth and objectivity. The theory sketch is advanced as the form of scientific theory appropriate to homeostatic systems. A rebuttal to the arguments against my theory sketches of international systems permits a concrete and systematic investigation of why the theory sketch--rather than formal theories of the type of physics or historical generalizations - is the appropriate method. I later explore more briefly how theory sketches apply to other types of homeostatic systems. I discuss how the homeostatic control metaphor informs the vicarious test-in-principle that I employ in the area of moral analysis and why other types of moral analysis, including those of Rawls and Nozick, fail. How my position on moral analysis accords with and differs from that of Aristotle is noted.

ACCESSION #

3912060

Related Articles

Explores how ethically responsible work of public concern can emerge from an institution whose frames of reference are so massively determined by the goals and logic of business and industry. Why postmodernism has been tremendously valuable for oppositional critics; Factor involved in fostering...

The article reports that the Stalin Center has been opened in Penza, Russia, that would work on preparing laws based on Soviet models and promote higher ethical standards in society. It mentions that the first secretary said Soviet ideals were the only antidote to the destructive influence of...

Rhetoricians still replay the same tired fight between realists and "postmodernists" over and over ad infinitum. This dialogue continues to be unproductive, as year after year panels and essays are devoted to figuring out which side is right- those who find the "postmodernists" disconnected from...

Discusses the consequences of post-modernity on the human embryo's personhood and abortion. Justification of a morality binding moral strangers; Content-full moral narrative; Mind-body relationship; Recognition of the dualism between the discourse of moral strangers and that of moral friends.

The ideas have a fundamental importance for world's destiny. Within the human civilization world of thinking, the scientific ideas represent the essence of logical structure of human mind and the truths about the human action and society that can be discovered by man. In this approach, I will...

Recounts the author's experience in teaching a course on ethical issues. Survey of moral problems; Introduction of ethical theories; Valuation of power of rhetorical agility; Reinforcement of features of postmodernity; Relativism; Skepticism; Nihilism.

The article reports on the meaning of postmodernism in an age of terrorism. Postmodernism recognizes that there is no universally accepted standard of good or evil. The postmodern point of view in the struggle against who penetrated the attacks in the U.S. puts people in a better position to...

The purpose of this inquiry is to show that the concept of 'citizenship' in modern liberal political thought is fixed and essentialist. This conception of citizenship is derived from Western metaphysics, which establishes homogeneous categories. The modern liberal idea of citizenship is derived...

This essay takes issue with the contention that sentimentality is ethically as well as aesthetically questionable, a contention that makes sentimentality especially problematic in postmodernist fiction; firstly, because postmodernist fiction is marked by a heightened self-consciousness that...